United States v. Sokolow

Decided April 3, 1989. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-1295 · 490 U.S. 1 (1989) · Cited 4,647 times

Holding

On the facts of this case the DEA agents had a reasonable suspicion that respondent was transporting illegal drugs when they stopped him.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Reid v. Georgia · 448 U.S. 438 (1980)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Florida v. Royer · 460 U.S. 491 (1983)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• United States v. Cortez · 449 U.S. 411 (1981)
• United States v. Montoya De Hernandez · 473 U.S. 531 (1985)
• United States v. Mendenhall · 446 U.S. 544 (1980)
• United States v. Brignoni-Ponce · 422 U.S. 873 (1975)
• United States v. Sharpe · 470 U.S. 675 (1985)
• Brown v. Texas · 443 U.S. 47 (1979)
• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Delgado · 466 U.S. 210 (1984)
• Winston v. Lee · 470 U.S. 753 (1985)
• Florida v. Rodriguez · 469 U.S. 1 (1984)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Kansas v. Glover · 589 U.S. 376 (2020)
• Illinois v. Wardlow · 528 U.S. 119 (2000)
• United States v. Arvizu · 534 U.S. 266 (2002)
• Prado Navarette v. California · 572 U.S. 393 (2014)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 575 U.S. 348 (2015)
• Ornelas v. United States · 517 U.S. 690 (1996)
• Alabama v. White · 496 U.S. 325 (1990)
• Maryland v. Buie · 494 U.S. 325 (1990)
• Maryland v. Pringle · 540 U.S. 366 (2003)
• Kaupp v. Texas · 538 U.S. 626 (2003)
• Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
• Utah v. Strieff · 579 U.S. 232 (2016)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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William Hubbs Rehnquist’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1989). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).